The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters

Why do we use eighty-year-old metrics to understand today’s economy?The ways that statisticians and governments measure the economy were developed in the 1940s, when the urgent economic problems were entirely different from those of today.In The Measure of Progress, Diane Coyle argues that the framework underpinning today’s economic statistics is so outdated that it functions as a distorting lens, or even a set of blinkers.When policymakers rely on such an antiquated conceptual tool, how can they measure, understand, and respond with any precision to what is happening in today’s digital economy?Coyle makes the case for a new framework, one that takes into consideration current economic realities. Coyle explains why economic statistics matter. They are essential for guiding better economic policies; they involve questions of freedom, justice, life, and death.Governments use statistics that affect people’s lives in ways large and small.The metrics for economic growth were developed when